Sprachkurs in Florenz und Auslandssemester in England

Saying my Goodbyes

A little more than three months have passed (how did that happen??) and I’m flying home today! It is pretty unbelievable how fast my stay abroad has come to an end. This week has therefore been full of goodbyes: Starting on Monday with the Ballroom Society, we at least combined each farewell with a party:

On Wednesday evening, we had a nice farewell dinner with all the international students that I had met either on the September Programme, on Facebook beforehand (yes, Facebook does have advantages!!) or otherwise at Sussex. Luckily a friend’s host family was so kind as to offer their house and kitchen for the occasion. We did all the cooking together (well, mostly the chopping ;-)) and ate „Turkish Pilaw“ (consisting of rice, rasins, chicken and red peppers) with salad and afterwards some apple pie. As a worthy ending of the night some of us went to the „pub round the corner“ for a final English cider. It was a great evening and I was really sad to leave so many nice people behind.

preparations for the final party

the last cider

On Thursday it was my last day on Campus. In the seminar, we even got some chocolate treats brought in by the teacher to sweeten up the lesson. Afterwards I took the chance to take a photo of the recently set up and lighted Christmas tree in Library Square. Unfortunately, my camera was again a little out of its depth so that I just took the liberty to download two official pictures from the Sussex Facebook page. Yesterday’s weather was also pretty much fitting in terms of the country that I’m leaving: windy, rainy and cold. I have to say that it did feel very strange to walk away from Campus for the last time – I’ll miss having everything in one place instead of spread over the whole city. The bad weather didn’t stop me, though, to join in the Choir social meeting that night at the Italian restaurant Donnatello’s. We spent another very pleasant evening with the Christmas menu (consisting – for me – of baked aubergines and profiteroles for dessert), Christmas crackers and fun. More people to miss and say goodbye to.

Christmas tree and Meeting House

with crownes out of Christmas Crackers

Just now I also went down to the beach again to see the ocean once again. It’s really lucky that the sun is shining today although the wind was pretty cold at the seafront.

lots of wind

So today, after some final packing, I’ll also take my leave of my host family, grab my suitcase and backpack and head to Gatwick Airport. Despite all the goodbyes over here, I am very much looking forward to going home🙂 In fact, if everything runs smoothly I’ll be back in less than 12 hours!

Having reached this point where I can actually say „I MADE IT!“, it seems appropriate to sum up my experience at the University of Sussex:

What I have enjoyed most about my stay and will definitely miss at home:

my great new friends and open-hearted people from all over the world

the very green, very nice Campus

shopping in the Lanes, North Laine and Churchill Square Centre

the ocean

the English language

trips all over the country

What I didn’t like and am glad to leave behind:

hours on the shaky bus

timed heating in my room, which means freezing during the day

a bath tub in which I cannot stand upright –> I prefer showers

the mattress that is much too soft for my back

What I’m most looking forward to at home:

my family

my friends

my cats

my own room that is actually my own

playing the violin

playing on a tuned piano

reading some books just for pleasure and for myself

German food, which can’t even be translated ;-): Kloß mit Soß‘

How I feel about my study abroad experience:

proud to have gone through with it and to have managed to organise everything

lucky to have got this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

grateful for all the support I’ve received, especially from the very best Mum in whole world

happy to be able to keep this experience and memory for the rest of my life

sad to leave Brighton, England and great people behind

grown as a person

Some statistics:

1000 km from home

101 days abroad

24 books and 9 excerpts/shorter texts to be read as primary literature, out of which I have actually read 13 books in their full length while being here, 5 beforehand, 5 partly, and 1 not at all (+ all shorter texts while being here)

the primary texts that I have actually read make up a whole of _____ pages (I’ll have to look up how many exactly when I get back because I am very curious about this specific fact ;-))

14 places in England I have been to apart from Brighton

only about 10 days of rain

a lot of money (I won’t put any details up because I might shock myself by that number although I fastidiously wrote down every single expense!)

ca. 85 hours on the buses in Brighton (probably it’s more but I calculated with 6 hours per week * 14 weeks here)